Dive Brief:
- About 60 San Jose State University students held a protest rally on Monday over the school’s slow response to racially offensive comments reportedly made by a university foundation board member.
- The Tower Foundation board member, Wanda Ginner, reportedly spoke derisively about Latino students and their families at a February meeting where a campus vice president was present, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
- Ginner denies that she made the comment attributed to her, and says she had called the meeting to draw attention to the perception that San Jose State was unfair to Hispanics in its admissions and financial aid decisions.
Dive Insight:
One of Ginner’s alleged comments was: "I contribute to this university because these little Latinas do not have the DNA to be successful."
The school’s president, Mo Qayoumi, said Monday that the university is examining the results of an external report on the alleged incident, which was reported by an administrator who has not been identified, and is determining what steps to take. Qayoumi did not release the report. Campus employees had met with the president to demand Ginner’s resignation and apology at the end of the spring semester, but came away with no results, and the unnamed administrator filed a formal complaint in August.
San Jose State made the headlines after a racial bullying case in 2013 that involved a black student harassed by white roommates in his dorm, who were arrested. A task force was created in the aftermath to promote campus awareness and sensitivity to racial issues.
